Gorgeous As Orange
by floridapanther28
Summary: Reuploaded Cadulius story of their Halloween together. This was originally a contest entry, but I took it down because someone decided it would be a smart thing to use my real, actual name in a review. Reuploading because I have the update bug and I thought the writing was good. Thank you if you click the story. I hope you like it!


**^_^ When I was assigned the color orange, I was very disappointed. It was the ONLY color that I DIDN'T want to write about. Then, the word "HALLOWEEN" lodged in my mind and, well… I think this is the best thing I've ever written. It sort of typed itself up since I went keyboard happy. :) **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the color orange. **

Orange

It was a cool, breezy, autumn night. The wind rustled and it blew leaves from the trees a kaleidoscope of colors- red, orange, yellow, and brown. The large maple leaves swiftly danced across the parched grass, ending at a young girl's shoes in the center of the village. Her shoes were blue ballet flats, and she wore lacy, white socks underneath them. With a soft beginning step, the twelve-year-old girl softly shuffled her feet towards Caramel Falls- an uninhabited escape with a friendly monkey and a sweet tortoise. The young girl could watch them for hours on end and never get bored, for she was an observer and did not burst into places uninvited such as Angela did. She disrobed her feet and slid them into the still water on the side of the pond opposite of the waterfall, barely making a ripple.

"Hey," a deep, startling voice called out. The young girl garbed in all shades of blue turned her head sharply to the right only to find her rival, Julius, staring at her. Julius raised his purple eyebrows and looked over her clothing in a disapproving manner. Candace turned away from him by instinct, shivering in the cool fall air. Julius sighed and joined her, slipping off his light brown boots.

"This area is just drop-dead _gorgeous,_ isn't it, Candace? From its freely flowing waterfall to the fabulous trees-"

"J-Julius, you should stop talking…" Candace whimpered, feeling the majesty of her favorite place gone while he was here- or anyone else for that matter. Talking took away the true beauty of the place, and some people did not know how to keep quiet and observe. If anyone knew how to observe then it would be Candace; Candace had been observing all her life and done nothing but. She had not meant to come across as rude, but sometimes people just needed to close their eyes and mouth but open their hearts.

"Candace, I've been looking all over for you. You see, I'm hosting a Halloween party tomorrow night with Renee's parents at her house and it would just be utterly _fabulous_ if you could come. Tell Luna she's invited, too."

Candace sighed and dipped her hand in the water, feeling its pureness penetrate her hand tired from weaving and sewing all day long. Luna loved to go to parties, and Candace could not keep this from her sister. Not only that, but if Luna was going then she would have to go as well. Candace knew that this was the only reason Julius was inviting Luna- to corner Candace into coming. Sapphire blue eyes met ruby-red, which quickly disappeared leaving only the evidence of a light red tinge on both of their faces.

"Okay. I-I would love to go…" she trailed off in thought, imagining the party.

"OMG, that's fabulous! I'll see you there, Candy! Toodles!~" he exclaimed, completely ruining the tranquility of the waterfall. He slipped on his boots, wiggled his fingers in a good-bye, winked, and left.

_Whew,_ Candace thought. _Finally._ She looked deep into the water, where an orange catfish swam in endless circles. A light smile played across her lips as she watched it: so carefree to do what it wished. If only she didn't have to go to that party…

* * *

Candace and Luna stopped outside of Brownie Ranch's district. Luna tugged her older sister by the hand, repeatedly telling her to keep her cool. Candace closed her eyes, trying to remember how to breathe. _Inhale, exhale,_ she thought to herself. _Inhale, exhale… _

Renee had set up a long, narrow table with endless platters of orange foods and drinks for Halloween- orange cake (which Chase and Maya were arguing over who got first taste, of course), pumpkin pudding, candy corn, orange juice… the list just went on and on. Julius and Renee were talking behind the table, smiling and giggling like they were good friends. Candace suddenly felt a huge urge of annoyance towards Renee, but did not show it because it would make her look childish like her sister. Renee was a sweet girl. There was no reason for Candace to hate her, so she snapped out of her judgemental thoughts and walked forward.

Julius took a quick glance at Candace, then did a double-take- his eyes nearly popped out of his head (which would have made an interesting party favor, but that is beside the point). She was wearing orange ballet flats, and instead of blue she was wearing orange- she was decked out head to toe in orange. She wore a long, flowing, light orange skirt down to her ankles. Her top was connected to the skirt to form a dress, with light peach bows across the medium orange camisole.

Candace had wanted to wear a jacket to cover her shoulders, but Luna insisted on just going how she was. Candace crossed her arms and tilted her head down, trying to blend in with the shadows, which is practically impossible when everyone's favorite gender-bender calls out-

"Candace! Oh, don't _you_ just look totally magnificent!" Julius giggled, tilting Candace's head up to playfully poke her nose with one of the vines on his costume. He wore a pumpkin suit and a hat with ripe, green vines sprouting out of the top. Candace blushed and looked away thinking intently at Julius's kind words. He was being much more considerate to her than he had been for the past few years. What was going on with that strange young pumpkin man?

"Th-thank you, Julius," she muttered, hardly audible. Although Candace may not have liked him very much, she was a polite girl and did not enjoy making enemies. Besides, he was being kind to her for once.

Julius shrugged and waved his hand carelessly in the air.

"Whatever. I meant that _tonight_ you look pretty. Not _all_ the time, obviously," he scoffed, sticking his nose high in the air. Candace smiled to herself softly, realizing what had just happened: Julius had accidentally let himself go there for a second. Apparently, Luna had noticed as well.

"You called her pretty so shut UP! She isn't ugly! LIES! ALL LIES, YOU LIAR!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, balling her hands into fists and pouting. She held the wand from her pink fairy outfit and repeatedly throttled Julius over the head with it, pounding him to a pulp over and over.

"That is not ladylike, is it my good friend?" Gill whispered to Chase. Chase shrugged and smiled with all of his teeth showing. Chase wasn't rowdy like Luke, but he _did_ enjoy a little bit of violence every once in a while.

After Renee, Hanna, Cain, Toby, Luke, Chase, Jin, Anissa, and even Gill consoled Luna out of murdering Julius, it was time for the kids to go trick-or-treating. Candace grabbed her black bag with a picture of a candy corn on it that read, "The Halloween Food Pyramid." The others gathered their belongings and left the table with now empty food trays.

Candace looked down while she walked, closed her eyes, and exhaled. _Get a grip, get a grip…_ She opened her eyes to see that the whole group was ahead of her, including her sister and Julius. Candace walked faster, for when she daydreamed she would walk noticeably slower. She passed beautiful fields of roses in Soufflé Farm's crop field, staring at them in jealousy. Red was a powerful color- red was the color of the Harvest God, one of the primary colors that couldn't be made by mixing others. It was also the first color in a rainbow. Candace suddenly felt self-conscious of herself in comparison to the roses. She was orange. Orange was always second in the rainbow, and what was orange the color of? Carrots? Carrots were lame. Orange was such a background color. In comparison to red, it was nothing.

Candace sighed and kept on scuffling her feet towards the group faster and faster. Julius looked behind himself towards Candace just as Renee began to blab his ear off about how to correctly brush a horse. Renee stopped talking and followed his line of vision toward Candace, who lagged behind the group like always. She held her elbows tightly, scuffing the ground with her heels.

"Candace! Come on, or you'll miss all of the pumpkin-flavored candies! I might just steal them all…" Julius said with a playful twinkle in his eye, licking his lips at the thought. Candace shook her head and stayed where she was, her beauty standing out in Julius's opinion like a star in the middle of the night.

"Too bad, because we're not letting you stay there! You're coming with us; you _will_ have fun!" Luke urged, running forward to grab his acquaintance.

"I-I don't wish to join you all at the moment… please just let me be, I'll catch up, I promise," she whispered, looking in her empty bag of treats with longing. Although she lied about not wanting to join the others, her expression said enough to them. Julius grabbed her hand that was as cold as an icicle, trying to pull her away and heat her hands up with his own warm, secretly caring ones. When she looked down to avoid his eyesight, Julius bent down and tilted his head up to catch her blue, shining eyes that could easily be mistaken for gems. Candace tried to look away but couldn't; some invisible force was keeping her eyes locked onto Julius's. He smiled slightly so as to not cause wrinkles in his face, then stood up and brushed himself off. He motioned for the others to keep on walking, including a curious Renee who kept glancing back at them.

"Are you okay?" Julius asked, wrapping his soothingly warm arm around her shoulders in an awkward neck-hug. Candace sighed on his shoulder, closed her eyes, and nodded. Julius may have been quite the girly boy, but he was someone trustworthy. He could be a gentleman when he wished. They stayed that way for a little while, Candace breathing in his warm pumpkin scent wafting through her stimulated nostrils. Julius meanwhile was enjoying the hug; no girl had ever accepted a hug from him in his life. He knew he was a good hugger, since he wrapped his arms around himself sometimes wishing that someone else would come along to hug him, too. Someone like Candace.

"OK, then… Candy, you really seem off tonight… something's wrong," he murmured, running his fingers through her hair. Candace blushed and pointed to the field of vibrant roses standing upright with a few thorns poking out here and there.

"Do you see those roses, Julius?" she said, her voice as smooth as silk. Julius nodded his head towards the farm and motioned for her to continue.

"W-Well… they're just so p-proud and… bright. Red is a powerful color- even more powerful than yellow and blue. Red is great, Julius, and I-I'm… I'm just orange… I need two of the powerful colors, red and yellow, to make me…" she looked down in sadness, one lone tear rolling down her thin, pale cheek. Julius's eyes widened at her and he tilted his head in confusion.

"Are you _out of your mind?_ First of all, you can't compare yourself to a color or a flower since you're a human. It doesn't work like that. Second of all, roses are a _horrible_ flower."

"B-but you love roses all the time!" she sputtered. Julius was surprised- she usually didn't raise her voice around him. She must have really been upset.

Julius narrowed his eyes in thought, trying to think of something wise to say to cheer her up. He snapped his fingers and turned back to reality, facing the girl.

"Yes, but do you know the secret to roses?" he said, looking left and right then lowering his voice to show that he was about to tell her some important intellect. Candace looked up at him and shook her head.

"Roses have thorns," he admitted, reaching over the fence to pluck one carefully and show her the stem. They examined the rose with much caution so they would not touch the spikes.

"And, not only that, but the prettiest roses get picked and eventually wither away," he said with a sigh, subconsciously knowing that he was taking Candace's hand into his own.

"But when we were little, I thought you said that I looked horrible in orange…" she whispered, looking him sideways in the eye. Julius looked extremely apologetic in his facial expression, with his furrowed magenta eyebrows and eyes beginning to well up with tears. Guilt tricks always worked well on him.

Julius was speechless. What _could_ he say to her, anyways? He had certainly been mean to Candace in the past, teasing her until the only colors she wore were blue and white.

"L-let's just forget about our little rivalry for tonight, okay? I don't work on holidays."

Candace giggled, covering her mouth but failing to keep her laughter contained inside. Julius smiled, and then laughed. He didn't find what he said to be funny in any way, shape, or form- but when Candace was happy, he was happy. A laugh was a smile that burst, and his happiness was too much to contain inside. Candace eventually calmed down, and squeezed Julius's hand tightly.

"C'mon, Candy. You're all better, right? You look fabulous as ever. We should go catch up with the others."

Candace nodded and sprinted up ahead, her feet barely making a sound and her skirt freely flowing in the night breeze. Julius stared after her, smiling and slowly moving his right hand over to his heart. It was a fast paced beat, with blood surging through his veins even faster and making him feel a lot warmer all of a sudden. He had an urge to hug her but tried not to show it, as it would ruin his rivalry… friendship… _thing_ with Candace. However, it wasn't like he was asking her out on a date or anything! Julius sighed and caught up to her at Mira's house, receiving candy corn and a caramel square.

"Th-thank you, Ms. Mira," Candace said with a grin, looking down at her bag with her first few pieces of candy in it.

"Any time, Candace, you can have candy- nice orange princess costume, by the way," she complimented. Candace smiled and bowed her head.

"Just the other day, a young man was asking to buy a pendant of that same color you're wearing… or, no, maybe it was a necklace he bought… I think it was a topaz necklace…?" she trailed off in deep thought.

"The color you're wearing is the same as that necklace, and just as pretty, too. It reminded me of it," she explained. Julius suddenly tugged Candace along with the group, leaving Mira staring after Julius in confusion. Oh. _He_ was the boy who bought the necklace! Mira stared after him, smirking to herself. _He better work for me when he's old enough to. He has fine taste, that boy._

The kids moved along towards the Sundae Inn.

"Trick or treat!" a chorus of children's voices rang out, with one unique voice arguing that candy rots teeth and gives cavities.

"Y-You better brush your teeth after that, Anissa!" Jin called out. Anissa shook her head, smiled apologetically, and popped the strawberry candy in her mouth. Jin frowned and stormed off towards the Meringue Clinic.

"Thanks for the candy, mum!" Maya exclaimed, beaming. Colleen and Jake smiled down at their daughter and Chase, who argued over who got the last piece of candy corn. While they were fighting, Luke quickly grabbed it out of Chase's hand to settle the argument and popped it in his mouth. Their eyes shot daggers at him as he walked away towards Julius, who was actually talking to Candace. Candace was… _talking._ Now that was a rare occasion.

"Hey you guys! What are you talking about?" Luke asked, bouncing his way over. Candace stopped talking and looked down, blushing. Julius shrugged, then took one glance at Luke's costume and laughed his butt off.

"_Really,_ Luke? A… a… a _banana? That's_ your costume?"

"Why can't I be a banana? I was gonna get a spinach costume, but they don't make those at her tailor shop… They don't make morph suits there, either…" he grumbled, jerking his head towards Candace. She pursed her lips and looked away.

"Don't you _dare_ talk bad about her shop!"

"J-Juli, I'm okay… really."

"_Fine._"

Julius turned away from the two, when Luke suddenly tackled him in a surprise attack to get his banana-flavored lollipop. Candace rushed over to help Julius, when she noticed something sparkly slip out of his pocket and skid onto the pathway while the two boys were wrestling.

_An orange, topaz necklace gleamed in the moonlight. _

"Er… J-Juli? Did you drop th-this?" she stammered, holding up the charm and admiring it's beauty. The topaz gem glimmered, but now had a deep crack running through it. The chain was golden, and although the charm was broken it still looked gorgeous. Julius blushed, frowned, and swiped it away from Candace with a swish of his hand.

"Don't touch it! It's none of your business!" he yelled, grasping it firmly. Luke could tell that he was not supposed to eavesdrop, so he ran up ahead to On the Hook with Owen, clutching his new lollippo in the palm of his hand.

"To whom were you going to give it?" Candace asked politely, trying her hardest to keep her voice level. Julius's mouth became a thin line, and a blush crept onto his smooth-surfaced cheeks.

"Um… I thought it would match your orange dress…" he muttered in a voice so low that even a dog wouldn't be able to hear it. Candace blushed deeply and looked down at her shoes shyly.

"I- um- I- I- I- um- uh-"

"Yeah, I know- stupid, right? I could have gotten you something much more fabulous than this, something without a dent, but-"

"This is the second most wonderful thing I've ever seen in my life."

By now the rest of the herd of kids had moved along, leaving Candace, Julius, and some candy corn strewn across the sidewalk alone. The tension was so great that one could have heard a pin drop. Julius nearly let go of the necklace while looking at Candace- after all the teasing for all those years- tonight they were finally getting along. Julius walked around to the back of Candace, who was blushing like crazy with his "inspection." She felt extremely awkward, and she held her breath until…

…Julius snapped the clasp in the back of her neck, admiring the necklace on her. He smiled and winked at Candace, seeing as his job was done.

"Tonight was wonderful, Julius," Candace admitted. "The necklace is perfect. I thank you from the bottom of my heart..."

"And love you from the bottom of my heart…" she added quietly, hoping he wouldn't hear. Julius grabbed his beating heart and directed her towards the beach, where the sun was setting.

"Candace?"

"Y-yes?"

"The sky is beautiful isn't it?"

The sky was so beautiful that night it may as well have been a panoramic painting with its orange streaks and clouds.

"I've seen something much more appealing..." she whispered, clutching the necklace. Julius rocked on his heels innocently and gave her the "I'm-going-to-ask-you-something-but-subtly-so-it-won't-be-too-awkward" face.

"Oh?"

"I've seen… you…"

By now her cheeks were flaming; it had taken her every ounce of bravery and courage in her body to say that.

"Hush, Candy, hush… the sunset is almost as pretty as you are. Let's watch the sunset, because as you hinted to me yesterday at the Goddess Pond, 'moments can be ruined with words.'"

Candace smiled serenely and stared past the sunset and into the gates of heaven.

Oh, wait- she was already _in_ heaven.

What a night.

* * *

Candace sat with her newly-wed husband, staring at the starry sky dotted with beautiful specks, admiring its white freckles.

"Juli?"

"What is it, Candy?"

Candace turned to face her husband, grasping his hand tightly.

"What color do you think I could look pretty in, other than blue?" she asked quietly, staring into his eyes. Julius smiled and looked up.

"Anything, really, but especially… orange. It may be the opposite of blue, but… you would look fabulous in orange- plus, you remember Halloween a few years ago, right?" Julius always knew the right thing to say- he basically could read her emotions.

Candace leaned back to stare at the sky, practically absorbing the sight with osmosis.

Then, it happened.

As fast as it came, it went. One millisecond in time, one moment to be shared by a loved one- it was utterly breathtaking. Candace and Julius gaped at it then quickly shut their eyes. When they opened them, it was gone.

"What did you wish for on the shooting star, Candy?" Julius asked, trying to look unfazed but miserably failing. She stood up, and Julius did as well so she wouldn't feel alone.

"You okay, baby?" he asked, kissing her lightly on the top of her head. She stared at him for a solid minute, then finally hugged him as hard as she could which knocked him to the ground again.

"I'm fine. Juli, I wished for my life to keep going in the direction that it's headed."

Julius smiled at his wife and leaned towards her. Candace blushed and looked down shyly, grasping his hand.

"This has been a terrific honeymoon so far. Juli… I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight…"

Candace sighed and stared up at the sky. Julius looked at her in concern, rubbing the palm of her hand with his thumb.

"Juli… I won't be able to sleep because my reality is better than my dreams…"

* * *

**AW GODDESS IT'S SO CORNY I CAN'T EVEN TAKE IT. =.=" **

**I wrote this a long time ago but I took it down because someone used my name in a review. If you please, refer to me as Panther if you are to ever talk to me. Thank you. :-) **

**Anyways, reuploaded because I had the update bug. Wheee writing! **


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